Readings for Tue, March 24th

Matins

Prophecies

Numbers 10:35-end ; Numbers 11:1-34

So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said:
        "Rise up, O LORD!
        Let Your enemies be scattered,
        And let those who hate You flee before You."

And when it rested, he said:
        "Return, O LORD,
        To the many thousands of Israel." Now when the people complained, it displeased the LORD; for the LORD heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the LORD, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the LORD had burned among them.

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: "Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!"

Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the anger of the LORD was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. So Moses said to the LORD, "Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, "Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,' to the land which You swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, "Give us meat, that we may eat.' I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now--if I have found favor in Your sight--and do not let me see my wretchedness!"

So the LORD said to Moses: "Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. Then you shall say to the people, "Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt." Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, "Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?""'

And Moses said, "The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, "I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.' Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?"

And the LORD said to Moses, "Has the LORD's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not."

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. Then the LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again.

But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."

So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, "Moses my lord, forbid them!"

Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!" And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

Now a wind went out from the LORD, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day's journey on this side and about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail he who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.

Proverbs 3:19-end ; Proverbs 4:1-9

The LORD by wisdom founded the earth;
        By understanding He established the heavens;
        By His knowledge the depths were broken up,
        And clouds drop down the dew.
        My son, let them not depart from your eyes--
        Keep sound wisdom and discretion;
        So they will be life to your soul
        And grace to your neck.
        Then you will walk safely in your way,
        And your foot will not stumble.
        When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
        Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.
        Do not be afraid of sudden terror,
        Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;
        For the LORD will be your confidence,
        And will keep your foot from being caught.
        Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
        When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
        Do not say to your neighbor,
        "Go, and come back,
        And tomorrow I will give it,"
        When you have it with you.
        Do not devise evil against your neighbor,
        For he dwells by you for safety's sake.
        Do not strive with a man without cause,
        If he has done you no harm.
        Do not envy the oppressor,
        And choose none of his ways;
        For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD,
        But His secret counsel is with the upright.
        The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked,
        But He blesses the home of the just.
        Surely He scorns the scornful,
        But gives grace to the humble.
        The wise shall inherit glory,
        But shame shall be the legacy of fools. Hear, my children, the instruction of a father,
        And give attention to know understanding;
        For I give you good doctrine:
        Do not forsake my law.
        When I was my father's son,
        Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother,
        He also taught me, and said to me:
        "Let your heart retain my words;
        Keep my commands, and live.
        Get wisdom! Get understanding!
        Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
        Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
        Love her, and she will keep you.
        Wisdom is the principal thing;
        Therefore get wisdom.
        And in all your getting, get understanding.
        Exalt her, and she will promote you;
        She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
        She will place on your head an ornament of grace;
        A crown of glory she will deliver to you."

Isaiah 40:1-8
"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!"
        Says your God.
        "Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
        That her warfare is ended,
        That her iniquity is pardoned;
        For she has received from the LORD's hand
        Double for all her sins."
        The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
        "Prepare the way of the LORD;
        Make straight in the desert
        A highway for our God.
        Every valley shall be exalted
        And every mountain and hill brought low;
        The crooked places shall be made straight
        And the rough places smooth;
        The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
        And all flesh shall see it together;
        For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
        The voice said, "Cry out!"
        And he said, "What shall I cry?"
        "All flesh is grass,
        And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
        The grass withers, the flower fades,
        Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
        Surely the people are grass.
        The grass withers, the flower fades,
        But the word of our God stands forever."

Job 25:1-6
Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
        "Dominion and fear belong to Him;
        He makes peace in His high places.
        Is there any number to His armies?
        Upon whom does His light not rise?
        How then can man be righteous before God?
        Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?
        If even the moon does not shine,
        And the stars are not pure in His sight,
        How much less man, who is a maggot,
        And a son of man, who is a worm?"

Job 26:1-9
But Job answered and said:
        "How have you helped him who is without power?
        How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
        How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?
        And how have you declared sound advice to many?
        To whom have you uttered words?
        And whose spirit came from you?
        "The dead tremble,
        Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
        Sheol is naked before Him,
        And Destruction has no covering.
        He stretches out the north over empty space;
        He hangs the earth on nothing.
        He binds up the water in His thick clouds,
        Yet the clouds are not broken under it.
        He covers the face of His throne,
        And spreads His cloud over it.

Psalm

From the psalms of our teacher David the prophet, may his blessings be with us Amen.

Psalm 86:5-6

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.

Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
And attend to the voice of my supplications.

Gospel

Mark 9:14-24

And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?"

Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not."

He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?"

And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."

Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

Liturgy

Pauline Epistle

From the epistle of teacher St. Paul the apostle to the (...), may his blessings be with us Amen.

Philippians 2:22-26

But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.

Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

The grace of God the Father be with you all. Amen.

Catholic Epistle

The catholic epistle from the epistle of our teacher St. (...), may his blessings be with us Amen. My beloved.

1John 3:2-11

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

The Acts of our fathers the Apostles, may their holy blessings be with us all. Amen.

Acts 24:10-23

Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: "Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city. Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me. But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

"Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me. Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council, unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, "Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day."'

But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, "When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case." So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him.

Psalm

From the psalms of our teacher David the prophet, may his blessings be with us Amen.

Psalm 86:17

Show me a sign for good,
That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed,
Because You, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

Gospel

John 8:12-20

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."

Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."

Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"

Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."

These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.